Who is Still Alive From the First Episode of ‘Saturday Night Live’?
The new film Saturday Night chronicles the events that occurred just before the premiere of the first-ever episode of Saturday Night Live. Airing on October 11, 1975, the show was originally titled NBC’s Saturday Night, and featured a cast who would go on to become household names: Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Garrett Morris, Chevy Chase and Laraine Newman. George Coe was featured in the first episode, and surreal comedian Andy Kaufman made an appearance, performing his infamous Mighty Mouse lip-sync sketch.
Many cast members went on to the peaks of comedy fame after the show (although a few didn’t). But in the decades since, what have they been up to?
Who Were the Guests on the First Episode of SNL?
Everett Collection
The first person to ever appear on screen on an episode of SNL was neither a cast member nor a host; it was head writer Michael O’Donoghue, who appeared in the cold open of the show in a sketch called “Wolverines.” Not long after, the host George Carlin came out for a stand-up comedy monologue. He didn’t appear in any of the sketches but delivered short stand-up sets throughout the evening.
Comedian and actor Billy Crystal was originally supposed to appear. He was asked by Michaels to prepare a sketch, but it was ultimately cut from the show. However, there was another star that made a quick cameo in the episode: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit cast member Richard Belzer. He was a background actor during “The Courtroom” sketch.
We can’t forget that Jim Henson’s Muppets made an appearance in the first episode and throughout the first season with a recurring sketch series called “The Land of Gorch.”
Meanwhile, the very first musical guests were Billy Preston and Janis Ian. Preston and his band performed “Nothing From Nothing” and “Fancy Lady,” while Ian sang “At Seventeen” and “In the Winter.”
Herb Ball/NBCU Photo Bank
Who is Still Alive From the First Episode of SNL?
Lorne Michaels
Kwaku Alston/NBC/TV Guide/Everett Collection
Creator Lorne Michaels is 79 years old (he will be 80 next month!) and still working at SNL, guiding its 50th season.
Dan Aykroyd
Columbia Pictures/Everett Collection
Aykroyd is 72, and still acting, most recently appearing in 2024’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. The star, who appeared in everything from The Blues Brothers to Driving Miss Daisy, also co-founded the House of Blues chain of music performance venues.
Garrett Morris
Warner Bros./Everett Collection
Morris was nearly 40 when the show first premiered, having already had a career as a musician, performing with the Belafonte Folk Singers and on Broadway. After his five seasons on the show, Morris took on occasional movie roles, and was a regular cast member on The Jamie Foxx Show from its full run, from 1996 to 2001. He also starred in the show Two Broke Girls, which ran from 2011 to 2017. Morris is 87.
Chevy Chase
Jardin Altaus/NBC/Everett Collection
Chase is 81, and went on to a long career after the show, in films like Caddyshack and the National Lampoon’s Vacation series. He starred in the TV show Community from 2009 to 2014, and was most recently seen in the 2015 film Vacation, a reboot of his National Lampoon series.
Jane Curtin
Gravitas VenturesEverett Collection
After five season on the show, Curtin found great success on sitcoms, winning multiple Emmys for her work on Kate & Allie and appearing on the series Third Rock From the Sun for five seasons. She is 77, and still appears in occasional film, TV and theater roles.
Laraine Newman
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In the decades after the show, Newman made numerous film and TV appearances, and beginning in the 2000s, became a popular name in voice acting. Newman is 72.
Janis Ian
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The “At Seventeen” singer is 73, and was touring regularly until 2022, when she suffered an injury to her vocal cords.
Gilda Radner
Everett Collection
After leaving SNL, Radner did live theater, and appeared in multiple movies and TV shows. Sadly, Radner died on May 20, 1989, at the age of 42.
Michael O’Donoghue
New Line Cinema/Everett Collection
O’Donoghue wrote a number of film and TV projects, including the film Scrooged; he also wrote a song for Dolly Parton, “Single Women,” in 1982. He died on November 8, 1994 at the age of 54, of a cerebral hemorrhage.
George Coe
John M. Heller/Getty Images
Coe appeared in a number of film and TV roles after SNL, but is probably best known for voicing the valet Woodhouse on the animated series Archer. He died on July 18, 2015 at the age of 86.
John Belushi
Universal/Everett Collection; Columbia/Everett Collection
After a brief and promising career which included star turns in Animal House and The Blues Brothers, Belushi died on March 5, 1982, at the age of 33.
George Carlin
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One of the most influential stand-up comedians of all time, Carlin passed away on June 22, 2008, at the age of 71.
Billy Preston
ArenaPlex/Everett Collection
The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter continued to perform all his life, both as a solo artist and in-demand session musician. Preston died on June 6, 2006, at 59.
Jim Henson
Everett Collection
The Muppet Show creator died on May 16, 1990, at 53.
Andy Kaufman
Everett Collection
Kaufman went on to star on the TV show Taxi. The boundary-breaking comedian died on May 16, 1984 at 35.
Watch the first episode and relive the magic on the streaming service Peacock.
1970s Fall TV
September 2023
Take a trip back to the ’70s by looking at the TV Guide Magazine Fall Preview primetime lineups.
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